The Intelligent Workforce

Lunchtime expert series

Following the proverbial food delights, delegates congregated in Woodalls design suite on the 5th floor of their College Hill office to hear from Creative Director Kristoff DuBose about ‘The Intelligent Workforce’.

The subject looked at how todays talent choose to work and importantly what tomorrows talent might expect. As you would expect competition for talent is stiff and during the period 2008- 2010 the expectation level peaked. Essentials like infrastructure and technologies are mandatory must haves but these are closely followed by how we like to work and how people move around the office.

Many offices are still based on the old manufacturing principles that people are doing consistent repetitive tasks and need constant supervision when in reality we now need our offices to be promoting collaboration, communication and innovation and technology has given us the freedom to complete tasks anywhere.

The advent of flexible work space has changed the traditional office forever. The notion that people only work at a desk is no longer acceptable. Some of the best work is done away from a desk in a relaxed environment. Interestingly Woodalls have found that the percentage of floor space allocated to the canteen in all our recent project has been increasing significantly as this area gains more importance.

The workspace ends up being everywhere – where people Arrive, Hangout, Meet & Collaborate, Desking and Focus area.

The proven return on investment is smarter and harder work along with a high rate of retention and it is much more easy to attract talent.